Kaleidoscope Heart
by Rebekah Matthews
Summary: Misty muses about how her relationship with Ash has evolved over the years and what it meant for her to have the 'butterfree' feeling in her stomach. A series of snippets of her time with Ash allows Misty to reminisce about her blossoming relationship with him and how sometimes, a little distance does make the heart grow fonder.


Author's note: I had some lovely reviews for my one shot _Paper Rings_ \- if you haven't read it, check it out on my page! - and my readers requested that I write more pokeshipping one shots. I hope you enjoy this short story. I really enjoyed writing it, though it was so hard to get right! This has more adult themes in it than I usually write but I hope you like it - no flames, please, but do leave me your reviews and let me know what you think! Rated M to cover the story just in case!

I have written this story for all the people who have ever experienced the 'butterfly' feeling in your stomach.

Disclaimer: _Wildest Dreams_ by Taylor Swift - this song really helped to inspire this story. I hope you can understand the emotions in the story - it's certainly been a ride writing it.

Kaleidoscope Heart

It had been years since Misty had taken over the Cerulean City Gym as the gym leader after her sisters gave her no choice but to give up her dreams of travelling through the regions, aspiring to be a water pokémon master. Of course, her duty to her family came first and like a doormat, she found herself back in her home city, overseeing the gym and eventually, everyday felt like a week. She very quickly found herself carrying a weight on both her shoulders, barely standing the air like she couldn't breathe. She found that the only thing she had was that she was one week older, and the weeks continued to go by. And this is one of the thousand thoughts that started to shoot through her head as she found herself in the strong embrace of her closest friend.

It all began three years ago. Misty was bored rigid of the same company she had, being challengers to the gym, or Tracey on one of his spontaneous visits. She craved company, something that her pokémon couldn't satisfy. So, she signed herself up to a Pokémon forum website where trainers all over the Pokéworld, across all the regions, could connect and interact. The memory made her smile into the chaste kiss she was now sharing with this tall, dark trainer. A trainer by the name of Tom_Ato connected with her, starting up a conversation about her Gyarados proving to be difficult for challengers to beat. The enthusiasm this Tom Ato expressed at one day challenging her Gyarados to a battle seemed so familiar somehow. She laughed at herself when she recalled one fateful conversation a few short months down the line.

_So, Tom Ato, _she wrote_, do you have a fondness for ketchup?_

_I can take or leave it,_ came the reply_, but it makes a great alias when you don't want to draw attention to yourself on the internet._

_Do your pokémon enjoy ketchup?_

_Arguably, far too much._

_Glad to hear Pikachu hasn't changed._

_Silence dominated the next few minutes as Misty watched the little icon appear at the bottom of their chat window telling her that the recipient was typing. She watched it disappear then start up again a few times until finally she received the reply._

_Hey there, Ann Chovy._

Misty recalled the warmth she felt upon receiving that message. The Butterfree fluttering in her stomach was almost tangible. She remembered how she giggled at the memory of their travels through Dark City and how she, Ash and Brock adopted aliases inspired by food. Of course, Misty remembered how she felt herself despair at Ash's choice of name from his partner Pikachu's love of ketchup.

She was shocked out of memory lane when she felt Ash pull her closer to him, running his fingers through her long red hair, the usual band that tied her hair under her ear was long pulled out and abandoned. The tingles on her skin was palpable as his fingertips grazed against her, as they travelled up her bare arms to rest against the curve of her neck.

_Two years ago, Ash and Brock were visiting Misty in Cerulean City where they joined her on a short journey to Cerulean Cape. There, Misty revealed her collection of mini-Misty lures which made the boys sweat drop at her antics. Even after all these years, Ash was pleased that she hadn't changed, however, he still found her lures completely bonkers. She handed one to each of them as she expressed her intention was to come up here for some fishing. She never got to do it anymore what with all her gym leader responsibilities, and with Tracey holding down the fort with Daisy, she found herself having a day to do exactly as she pleased: fishing with her dearest friends. Then she was pulled up short._

_"I don't need a lure, Misty," he objected, putting his hand in his jumper pocket. "I have one."_

_"Well, ditch it," she argued. "These lures are top of the line."_

_"Yeah, so is mine," Ash countered._

_"What are you going to do?" Misty questioned tartly. "Throw your excitable, deaf as a doorpost Totodile in the lake?"_

_"He's not deaf!" Ash exclaimed._

_"Oh, really?" Misty challenged. "He lacks self-control. He spends more time dancing around than actually getting the job done – takes after his trainer."_

_"I have self-control, Misty!"_

_"Could have fooled me," she said with a sniff._

_"If you must know, this is my lure," he continued, ignoring her. And with a flourish, he presented his special mini-Misty lure that she'd sent to him as a cheer-up gift three years ago after his loss at the Battle Pyramid. "Now this is top of the line." He said it with such conviction that he jutted his chin out as if to prove it._

_Misty was taken aback. She blinked at the lure that Ash was now holding under her nose and she stepped back._

_"Fair play," she conceded, turning back to the fishing rods that she'd packed in her bag._

_Ash caught Brock's eye and he grinned at his friend in victory. Brock merely rolled his eyes. He'd long gotten used to their petty arguments. As Misty handed out the rods and told them to set up, she announced she was going to collect some wood for food later. She disappeared through the thickness of the trees and Ash watched her go._

_"Hey, Ash," Brock nudged him, "want to give me a hand here?"_

_"Sure, sorry," Ash excused himself._

_Misty walked a little further into the forest where she knew the wood would be dry enough for burning. She crouched down and took up armfuls of wood and thought back to Ash. He had kept the mini-Misty lure all this time. She felt the stirrings of Butterfree fluttering in her stomach. The idea that he had kept something from her all this time on his travels through Kanto, Sinnoh Unova and Kalos was unexpected but a most welcome one. It warmed her right through to the core that a fire wouldn't have been able to manage. She made her way back towards the lake that they were fishing at and found herself coming to an abrupt halt when she heard the boys talking to each other._

_"Brock, look," Ash grinned, "a school of Goldeen."_

_"Yeah, I'm not sure a Goldeen would appreciate being housed at a rock gym," Brock said flatly._

_"What are you talking about?" Ash asked in confusion. "It would win every time."_

_Brock stared at Ash blankly as if his friend had suddenly grown two heads and a Gyarados tail._

_"Ash," he said slowly, "it's a fish."_

_"And it would win in a battle in a rock pokémon gym!"_

_Brock smacked the heel of his hand against his forehead._

_"There is no water in a rock pokémon gym, Ash," he said exasperatedly. "What do you expect a Goldeen to do? Flop around like a Magikarp?"_

_Then his stupidity dawned on Ash and he had the good grace to look embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck in his usual awkward fashion and laughed._

_"Oh yeah!" he chuckled._

_"Ash's finest hour everyone," Brock said wearily, with a groan._

_Ash watched the Goldeen swimming around in circles below them._

_"Do you remember early on in our journey through Kanto that town we visited after we left Dark City that was hosting a carnival?"_

_"You mean that tragic one that literally caught on fire and Misty was dressed in a leotard adorned with Goldeen fins?"_

_"The very same," Ash smirked._

_"What made you think of that?" Brock asked in surprise. "That's a blast from the past."_

_"Oh, I was just watching the Goldeen," Ash stated as a matter of fact, pointing out the said pokémon swimming just feet from them. "Have you ever noticed that the vibrant orange on a Goldeen is so much like Misty's hair?"_

_Misty raised her eyebrows at his words. For someone who loves water pokémon more than anything, this was quite possibly the sweetest thing she'd ever heard him say about her. She hugged the wood to her chest as she felt the fluttering in her stomach again._

_"Give over, Ash," Brock laughed. "You'll be giving me a run for my money with the girls!"_

Misty felt Ash's tongue lightly brush over her bottom lip as he deepened the kiss. She felt a pang of lust go through her which compelled her to grip him to her, pulling him closer to her. Every fibre of her being felt like it was on fire. She almost chuckled to herself thinking of every time Ash had ever given her Butterfrees in her stomach. She thought she'd combust whenever the overwhelming feeling rushed around her system. Just to be near him was ecstasy.

_Misty was impatient. She was visiting Professor Oak's laboratory with her pokémon on hand as he wished to see her Gyarados. He had been studying water pokémon changes after evolution and he was most fascinated by the changes in her Gyarados, especially his personality. Honestly, Misty stopped listening to him a long while ago. Whatever he was saying about her Gyarados paled in significance to the fact that Ash was home within the next few hours. She'd only seen him some numerous months ago when she met up with him, Brock, May and Max at the Mirage Kingdom. The outcome had been sad when she released her newly evolved Togetic, but she did what was best for her. The loss of her beloved baby fairy-type pokémon had been hard on her. It was all too reminiscent of her parting with Ash and Brock when she left them to take over as the Cerulean City gym leader – the grief was the same. When Tracey gave her his Marill's Azurill, it had cushioned the pain of her loss that she had felt so deeply, but it was a loss that she knew she'd always feel. She felt it everyday that she wasn't on her journey with Ash: it was like a piece of her had been taken away and a plaster had been stuck on top. It wasn't enough. Today, however, Ash was coming back to Pallet Town and the anticipation was killing her. The minutes seemed to creep by and at one point she had yanked Professor Oak's clock off the wall to press it to her ear to see if it was still ticking off the seconds._

_Eventually, the time came, and she was at Delia Ketchum's house in nervous anticipation. She felt the stirrings of Butterfree in her stomach, fluttering away at the prospect of seeing her best friend again. She often mused how ironic it was that a bug pokémon was associated with the 'fluttery' physical sensation in the stomach. She hated bugs, but she had been witness to Ash's first pokémon catch: a Caterpie that evolved into a Butterfree. She found herself liking Ash's Butterfree. This was an unexpected turn of events as she had always adamantly claimed that she hated bugs and they were one of the three most disgusting things in the world. However, she liked cute or pretty bug pokémon, though dare anyone point that fact out. The first time she felt her heart strings get pulled by Ash was when he had to let his Butterfree go. She'd felt his pain then._

_The door flung open and Ash appeared in the hallway, Pikachu perched on his shoulder. After an automatic shout out to his mom to alert her to his presence, he stopped short and his eyes widened at the entrance of his red-headed best friend. Then his mouth broke out into a smile. At the Oak pokémon reserve, the inevitable happened and Ash was carried off by his herd of Tauros in their excitement. After Bayleef saved him from being carried away into the distant unknown, he commented on how strong his pokémon have become since he'd left on his travels in Hoenn. Misty just couldn't resist._

_"Well, you know that pokémon start acting like their trainer," she said as a matter of fact, raising her finger in the air like a professor. "I hear a certain trainer has been running wild all over the regions." She then winked at him._

_"Oh yeah?" Ash said curiously, gazing intently into her azure bright blue eyes._

_She gulped, tearing her eyes away from the pools of bittersweet chocolate that was making her stomach flutter all that much more._

Misty's fingers grazed the skin at the small of Ash's back, causing him to gasp against her flushed lips. His head dropped to her neck and he left a trail of kisses from her collarbone up to her jaw under her ear that he'd very quickly worked out made her groan in pleasure. She then boldly grabbed hold of the bottom of his shirt, leaned away from him just enough to whip his shirt over his head, throwing it away from them. Ash smirked at her the smirk that made her wish he had his shirt on just so she could yank it off all over again. So, she did the next best thing. Ash fell backwards on the bed behind him with the force of her kiss and he felt his stomach clench at the force of the Butterfree taking off from the sudden explosion of emotion that burst from him as he felt her get closer.

_Misty sat in her office in the gym and stared at her computer screen. Another message had come through from Ash. It had been a year since she'd found Ash on the pokémon forum website and now he was in the Kalos region. She'd never been. All she knew was that it was far away, far grander and surrounded by oceans. His messages were sporadic and inconsistent because he was travelling, and it wasn't always easy for him to get to a pokécentre in order to reply. The cost of using a phone would be extortionate and he'd told her in previous emails that when he's closer to Kanto again, they can resume texting. Honestly, it felt almost archaic to be sending messages over email then waiting years for a reply. It would have been quicker if she'd flown there, given him the answers to his emails directly and flown back!_

_She scanned his email, sighed and pulled a pad of paper in front of her from across her desk. She picked up a pen and wrote._

_He said, "let's get out of this town  
Drive out of the city  
Away from the crowds"  
I thought heaven can't help me now  
Nothing lasts forever  
But this is gonna take me down  
He's so tall, and handsome as hell  
He's so bad but he does it so well  
I can see the end as it begins, my one condition is_

_Say you'll remember me  
Standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset  
Red lips and rosy cheeks  
Say you'll see me again even if it's just in your wildest dreams_

_You see me in hindsight  
Tangled up with you all night  
Burn it down  
Some day when you leave me  
I bet these memories follow you around_

_The squeak of the door made her look up._

_"Hey, Brock," she greeted him, standing up._

_He gestured for her to sit back down._

_"Hey, Misty," he said warmly, coming into her office and sitting down on the couch that was sat perpendicular to her desk. "Sorry, I'm a little late."_

_"No worries," she smiled. "I was just getting through some emails."_

_Brock's trained eye hadn't missed that she had a reply from Ash, but he decided against commenting on it. Instead, he continued the conversation on an easy footing._

_"I just got in from Johto," he told her. "My internship at the Pokémon Day Care Centres in Eggseter was amazing. I got to raise so many types of pokémon after we cared for them as eggs and helped them hatch. It was quite the experience. I can't believe those three months flew by so quickly!"_

_Misty smiled at her aspiring pokémon doctor friend fondly. He was coming in leaps and bounds in his training to be a pokémon doctor, what with all the experience he was getting from his travels on his studies across all the regions. She was genuinely amazed that he was able to maintain focus so much considering he was almost always supervised by a Nurse Joy. It seemed that he was maturing, which she thought was ironic considering he was a couple of years older than she._

_"I was late because I met with my new supervisor when I arrived in Kanto," he continued. "Nurse Joy has to be the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever beheld."_

_Misty sweat dropped. Perhaps not. She gave a strained smile._

_"That sounds lovely, Brock," she answered. "Are you alright to help me with the pokémon health checks? They're all in their pokéballs, ready and waiting."_

_She leapt up as Brock nodded yes. From his tall stance, he could clearly see what Misty had written on her pad of paper. Misty's eyes flickered between her friend of eight years and snatched the pad up in her hands. Brock looked at her sympathetically, squeezing her shoulder gently._

_"He'll be home in the next few months," he reminded her. "The travelling bug won't always be a presence in his life."_

_"Do you really believe that, Brock?" she asked sceptically._

_Brock pursed his lips. No, he didn't really._

_"You mean everything to him, Misty," he answered honestly. "You're not just anyone."_

_The words were so reminiscent of Ash's words, that she felt the familiar stirrings of Butterfree in her stomach. She really missed him._

"The smell of the water on your skin is like heaven," he murmured into her ear, as he left whispers of kisses against her skin.

Misty smiled to herself. He had always associated water with Misty and it never failed to remind him of her. Water pokémon, a lake, water shows, a pool, chlorine… it was all Misty. Water was just one of the reasons they were in this position, really. Ash had found her out in the lake with her Horsea, Staryu and Goldeen. She got out to greet him and the look on his face as she stepped forward in her swimsuit was pathetically like the first time he'd seen her when she'd appeared in a bikini to join Ash and Brock in the water in Porta Vista. He made a comment that it was weird to see her looking like a girl which caused her to attempt to drown him. Though truthfully, she felt embarrassed and angry at the ridiculous feelings that the silly dolt had stirred up in her. They embraced in greeting after Misty had dried herself off and then he'd looked down at her from his tall height and smirked. She just knew from that ridiculous expression what he was thinking.

"You love it," she murmured, catching his lips once again with her own.

He simply couldn't take it anymore and let his fingers brush down her body, swift as a whisper and teased her shirt. He saw her flash a grin at him, so he deftly lifted her shirt over her head to reveal a midnight blue lace bra, perfectly cupping her breasts. He used to long for the days when he was just a boy filled with thoughts only reserved for pokémon battles and becoming a pokémon master. Well, he was well on his way to that, but he'd grown a lot over the years, physically as well as emotionally, and in his maturity, his fondness for Misty only grew stronger. Of nothing else he was surer.

_I know you've always been in the shadow of the Waterflower Sensational Sisters, Mist, his message read, but to me, you're sensational. You have eyes that glitter like a diamond but shine like the deep blue sea. You have the sweetest smile I've ever seen. You don't realise that when you smile, people fall in love with you. Your love of pokémon makes me so incredibly fond of you. The thought of lying with you out under the stars on a pokémon journey again just gives me the Butterfrees in my stomach. If I were to hug you, or hold your hand, or even kiss you, I'd feel like my whole world would have turned upside down and I'd have landed in heaven. It was no coincidence that you came into my life. I wouldn't know what kind of person I'd have turned out to be, if you hadn't been there in the beginning._

Misty smiled at the memory of that message which had first landed in her inbox one year ago when he was in Alola. This had come some months after she and Brock had visited Ash and their friendship had only continued to blossom over the years, whether their friendship went from physical interactions on a journey, to pen pals, to writing buddies, to making spontaneous guest appearances in the other's lives. It only kept the flame alive and it kept burning. That message had been long incoming for Ash and being the lonely Waterflower that she was, she hadn't any idea it had been on his mind. The Butterfree that unleashed a kaleidoscope of fluttering wings deep in her stomach was so sharp and intense that it was almost like a pain. She'd loved him for years, but it was in Lavender Town, when she realised just how quickly Ash was taking root in her heart and like ivy, it held on.

She looked down at Ash who was planting kisses on her chest and up across her collarbone, making a path to her neck.

"Tell me again," she insisted.

He looked up at her, swiftly pulling her down onto her side next to him on the bed and leaned on his side to look fondly at her, his chocolate brown eyes a pool of pure cocoa.

"I love you, Misty," he said with absolute certainty.

The Butterfree in her stomach kept fluttering and she knew that for as long as she lived and loved Ash, he would continue to keep her warm and keep her heart beating in sync with the flutter in her stomach. But when he looked at her like that, it felt like her heart might just take flight. And this was why he was her kaleidoscope heart.


End file.
